One new project we have started though is our cockpit doors! Since we have no seating running along the sill of our cockpit, that entire space will eventually open up. Which means we need to make three separate doors to close it up at times. Two that will slide into pockets next to the cockpit seats, and one in the center which will lift up and latch to the cabin top.
Starting out with fresh sheets of 4×8 nidacore, Matt cuts them down to size, and we go about glassing both sides of them. Each side gets 0.75 oz of chop strand, and then two layers of a 45/45 biaxel.
For extra strength around the edges, Matt will be fitting in pieces made from layers of our unidirectional fiberglass. Matt firstly layers six sheets of our unidirectional, cuts them to size, then de-cores the edges around the doors and bonds in the pieces of cured unidirectional by using our TotalBoat structural putty.
In some other fun news, we get the chance to prime another area for the first time. Our cabin sides and the under the cabin top. Although the exterior sides of the cabin will be covered by glass or acrylic, we still wanted a fairly smooth surface for those to bond to. And since the underside of the cabin can be seen any time you’re sitting on deck, yeah, we just want that to look good, haha.
Hopefully these steps will let us get into close up shape pretty soon! Once we move out of the tent and into the work yard, we can begin attaching the nose cones and stern to finally reach the full length of our catamaran!
We hope you enjoy!